TTrust+LMF

//Learning Motivation and Fun//
**5 generalizations** ** 1) Having a learning experience that was a "process" made learning fun for 7th-12th grade individuals.** The students that had to solve a problem through a series of processes found that learning could be fun. Andrew described that learning how to drive a manual stick shift on his own was an entire process that involved perfect timing, shifting the gear, and also maneuvering the car. Andy J. learned how to screen print by asking the teacher a lot of questions, trying to figure it out on his own, asking more questions, then finally watching the teacher demonstrate, and doing it on his own. Jess enjoyed the process of analyzing "core samples" of a mountain (clay mountain baked by teacher), coming to a consensus with a group, and testing their hypothesis. Krista had to learn a song in 3 different languages for her choir's tour of Europe. Learning the song in English, French, and American Sign Language was "quite a process" but also helped her make connections between the languages and the song and understand more about the languages. All of these multi-step processes added value to what the students were learning since it was not a one time, "do it on your own" experience.

2) **A learning experience that involved physical activity was engaging and fun for the majority of the age grou****ps.** ** Adam learned how to weld at 6 years old and it was fun because "anything that involved hands-on activities was fun for a 6 year old." Marie described how her experience at 6th grade camp was fun because they got to run around outside, explore nature (touch, see, and smell the plants to learn to identify them). Kamina really enjoyed cheerleading camp where she got to be active and learn new moves. Aurora really liked her ballroom dance class because it did not involve "just sitting and observing" instead they were "actually able to apply what they had learned right away." Asu was engaged in an ELL class where she was put in a group and they developed a story that they would perform. Performing in front of the class and watching others made the learning experience interactive, engaging, and fun. **

3) **Learning experiences that improved individuals' confidence made learning worthwhile for all ages.** ** Whether the individual gained confidence by trial and error or by having a teacher that helped build their confidence, the idea of learning something new and feeling confident about the learning experience made learning enjoyable and effective. Adam explained that the confidence he gained while learning how to weld and build things at 6 years old has stayed with him to this day and he still enjoys working with his hands. Audrey (40's) greatly improved her confidence in drawing, something she was hesitant to learn at first, but after the teacher helped her gain confidence, she really enjoyed drawing. Asu believed that working together with a group to do a performance really helped improve her confidence in speaking English. **

4) **Motivation was a useful tool for making learning fun****.**** Even though the source of motivation was typically different (friends watching, creating something to sell, grades), the individuals that were motivated to learn had a great time learning. Brian wanted to sell his 3D picture frame in a gallery in Second Life. Although he was creating this object for a class, he was motivated to do it really well so that he could make a profit from it. During the whole process he had fun since he was very motivated. Casey went wake surfing with friends and had the added motivation of her friends watching and videotaping during her first time wake surfing. She was really motivated to do well so that it would look good on film. Casey also explained that her friend/teacher was very supportive and provided a lot of motivation during the whole experience. Anna was motivated to learn by her teacher who was very knowledgeable about the subject, had a lot of first hand experience and stories to make the subject more interesting, and kept students alert by randomly quizzing them (motivation by grade). **

5) **Having an element of surprise added to the overall learning experience.** In Jess' 8th grade class, her teacher baked a mountain out of different types of clay. Her class had to figure out what was right below the top layer. Since the students could not see inside the mountain, they had to do analysis of the geological composition of the mountain and figure it out. Then they enjoyed the surprise of finding out what was really under the top layer at the end of the lesson. When Audrey took her first art class, she did not believe that her first art piece (a turkey) would turn out well. She followed along with the instructor and drew it line by line. At the end she was "pleasantly surprised by the result of the art piece," so much so that she took it home to show her husband. Interestingly, the art teacher did not hide something and have the students guess, instead she started with the very basics - drawing lines - and surprised the students with how simple and fun art can be.

**Overview**

After observing videos of many different individuals of all ages, I noticed that overall people like to be engaged (whether through physical activity, interactive events, or motivation) while learning. Also, individuals like challenge of processes — building their confidence step by step and having some end result that they can be proud of.

Motivation, confidence-building, surprise, physical activity/movement, and processes are all important tools for making learning fun and its important to keep them in mind when designing an educational game.